In Search of the Older Audience: Adult Age Differences in Television Viewing

TLDR

The study tests whether older adults watch more television than younger adults and whether this is driven by poor health, retirement, and widowhood. The authors used General Social Survey data to examine these claims. Older adults watched more television on average, but the effect was small, not explained by birth cohort or measurement timing, and traditional explanations were largely unsupported, with demographic and social variables better explaining younger adults' viewing.

Abstract

Abstract General Social Survey data were used to test the claims that (a) older adults watch more television than younger adults and (b) they do so because of poor health, retirement, and widowhood. Older adults did watch more television on average than other age groups. This effect was not explained by birth cohort or altered by time of measurement. However, the age effect was small (despite striking mean differences), because variability within the youngest and oldest groups was large. Overall, traditional explanations of older adults' viewing were largely unsupported. Demographic and social variables explained younger adults' viewing better than older adults'.